The Pittsburgh Philanthropy Project is a multi-faceted initiative whose purpose is to explore and document the distinct and significant, yet largely unexamined, role of the Pittsburgh region in philanthropy. The Project will prompt a civic dialogue about the implications of this legacy going forward.

While income creation and wealth generation may have lagged behind other regions recently, the dramatic rates of wealth creation in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Pittsburgh continue to make this a wealthy city in terms of financial, intellectual, institutional and philanthropic capital. Pittsburgh’s philanthropic story continues to evolve as different approaches, increasing challenges, fresh leaders and new entrants shape the region’s social investments.

The Pittsburgh Philanthropy Project will tell this largely unexamined but important story in several ways: